Hi all – I’m finally getting back into modelling in HO after about 17 years away. I’ve got a decent amount of older rolling stock (all my old loco’s never made it, unfortunately) which I would like to refurbish and use in my new layout. In particular, I’d like to replace the trucks, axles, wheels and couplers.
All the trucks and axles are plastic and produce a great deal of rolling resistance. Any suggestions on manufacturers for good quality trucks and axle/wheel assemblies?
But, couplers are my main area of consternation. I know I want to replace the stock plastic couplers (most of which are distorted or completely sheared off anyway), but am unsure what I should look for. Any suggestions on manufacturers, product lines, installation tips, etc. would be GREATLY appreciated.
Micheal,
First check out Kadee couplers. If you get the new Walthers catalog they have a chart for cross referenceing the couplers to the right equipment. I have also used the Bachman/McHenry couplers with good results.
As for wheel sets, for rollingstock use the Kadee or Jaybee. I have had the least amount of trouble with those. As for ones for your engines, look at Northwest Short Lines. They have a web site and good inventory. Good luck
Vern
Kato makes a superior truck wheel set for freight
cars. When I replaced my truck sets, I could almost double the amount of cars the engine could pull. Even in comparison to the $27.00 kadee freight car with Kadee wheel sets, Kato blows it away.I will reply tomorrow with the Kato part #.
Its pricey, about $4.50 for a package of two,but
worth it to me.
Model Railroad July or August Publication ran an
article on Knuckel Couplers including the Kadee
coupler.
My track is a little bumpy, my board is not perfect, my trains have 26 to 60 cars long and the
Kadee Coupler hods together.
Hi, Michael – Like you, I was out of the hobby for almost 2 decades and recently began converting my cars’ wheels to metal. I found that I was able to replace just the wheelsets, rather than the entire truck assembly, and got very good results. I bought several packages of LifeLike’s Proto 2000 metal wheelsets and popped them into the existing sideframes. MUCH cheaper proposition, at about $7.50 for a dozen wheelsets (3 cars’ worth). They don’t roll quite as freely as brand new trucks, but as an interim step, it was worth it!
-Gerry Leone
My preference is Kadee couplers and InterMountain wheelsets. I’ve tried the various Kadee knock-offs and find that they just don’t work as well as the Old Reliables. The Kadee web site (http://www.kadee.com/) has an even more extensive conversion table than the one in the Walthers catalog.
As for wheelsets, I used Kadee’s for a long time, but a friend convinced me to try InterMountain and I’ve been converting cars steadily since then.
Another thing you want to do for smooth operation is to set the weights of your cars to the NMRA recommended practice. For HO, that’s 1 oz. plus 0.5 oz. per inch of length (excluding couplers). A typical 40’ car should weigh 3.75 oz.; a 50’ car should weigh 4.5 oz. A-line makes nice 0.25 oz. weights with double-side sticky tape.
Cehck out the NMRA Standards and Practices web site at: http://users.vnet.net/paulrver/st_welco.html
Just following up to my previous reply. The kato truck part # is 31-601 for $5.00 There is another Kato similar truck, but I don’t know the #. As Gerry pointed out, Life LIke is a less expensive
solution.In my test run with Lifelike versus Kato,the Kato travels a bit farther down my grade,
but can one justify its price???I also have a correction to my earlier reply. Its Model railroader July 2000 addition covering the knuckle couplers. Should you not be able to get a copy,I can mail you the article on Friday. locomotive3@prodigy.net